Well, not really. But I do need your help. My wife is due in early September and we're going to have a boy. He's going to have a Japanese name (wife is Japanese) and I'm concerned about how well people from English speaking countries will be able to pronounce it. I don't want to him to go through life explaining, "No, you say it like..." like my mother whose name is Fionnuala.We have a list here and if it isn't too much trouble I would appreciate it if you would write the phonetic spelling of how you think it's pronounced. Don't worry if you don't have experience with Japanese names-the less you know the better!

KeisukeSakutaroShusukeShunsukeShunpeiShoheiShinnosukeSeitaKeito

That's a lot of names but I would really appreciate the feedback if you've got the time.

Just to be clear, I don't know how any of those are translated, but I think they're all pretty cool. And while I'm trying to be light with the other stuff, I do think you have to imagine what kids'll say and see if you're okay with that. Homer Simpson ran through a mental checklist when trying to name Bart, for example ("Art, Bart, Cart, Ee-art...I think it'll be okay").

Seita holds a warm spot in my heart, and for gaming reasons. It was the name of the Druid from the far north in our Midgard RPG campaign. Interesting enough it's actually a Sami (indigenous people of Northern Sweden, Norway and Finland) word for a type of shrine that they use to pray for the safety of their herds. When the player wanted a suggestion for a name I did some wiki-fu and came up with it. Interesting that it's also a name in Japanese, as a number of philologists have speculated that there's a connection between the languages of the Sami and Japanese. I do think its a good name for English speakers as its short and easy to remember.

BTW Seita was awesome in our campaign and much beloved by the party for his timely healing's and his brave Artic Owl familiar.

I think if you steer away from the "suke" names you will be okay. I know those names will give more trouble to folks who cant pronounce it correctly. I would always worry about folks pronouncing it "sucky".

That said I have a soft spot for Shunpei

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"I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind amazing things will happen." - Conan O'Brien

Thanks for the input guys! Most of you were actually pretty close (except for Metallicorphan who was way off but that's ok because I need to know how badly the names can be butchered, not how well they can be pronounced! )

Thanks for the input guys! Most of you were actually pretty close (except for Metallicorphan who was way off but that's ok because I need to know how badly the names can be butchered, not how well they can be pronounced! )

I think you have to accept that most folks here won't know "say" is spelled "sei" etc. or that "soo-keh" is spelled "suke," or "shoon" is spelled "Shun." imho you won't be able to avoid your child needing to correct folks on spelling at least once.

So I'd be inclined to support choosing a short, two-syllable name (like Seita or Keito) so at least he/she will only have to correct one spelling error, not two.